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The Ghost Blogging Platform – My Next Blog Theme?

Having recently completed my wedding website template I began researching where I should focus my next project.

There has been a lot of buzz with the Ghost blogging platform in recent months, so I must say it did peak my interest.

In this post I would like to explore with you some of my thoughts on Ghost blogs, talking about the installation process, whether or not it is a good option to consider for a theme as well as how I came to learn about what exactly Ghost is.

So let’s get started…

Getting to Know Ghost – The Blogging Platform

I began doing research on what exactly this new system was. Rather than tell you myself I thought it best for you to click the video below where John O’Nolan (founder of Ghost), explains exactly what the system is and how it differs from its competitors.

From the brief test drive I’ve had I can definitely say that I LOVE Ghost. As a user it is simple, elegant and intuitive.

The other factor is speed. Ghost blogs run on Node.js (If you don’t know what this is you can check it out here).

This means the platform is much faster than other platforms which run server-side languages (such as PHP, .NET, etc).

That being said, those earlier red flags were and still are a concern for me. At least for the near future. The thing is I am actually looking at Ghost as a theme developer and not as a user for the moment.

The hosting providers I am with unfortunately do not support Node. This means I would need to either set myself up with a third hosting service (which I don’t want to do) or consider cancelling my existing accounts and transferring all of my sites to a Node powered provider.

For now, I’m going to give it some time…

As the technology matures and becomes more mainstream hosting providers will have the necessary support, once this happens I will definitely set up the things needed to get a Ghost blog up and running.

So that brings me to where I am now. I have chosen to create a WordPress theme.

Why I chose WordPress Instead?

I love WordPress. The community is fantastic, the codex is killer and the level of growth has been enormous.

There are some key benefits in developing a WordPress theme as my next project. These include:

Commerciality

Niche level of competition

Improving my own knowledge of WordPress Theming

I thought it would be a great opportunity to get my feet wet and finally launch a WordPress theme.

Up until now I have always focused my attention on developing static HTML site templates and though this has been great you need to evolve and challenge yourself.

It’s not the first time I’ve created a WordPress theme, I’ve done this for my freelance clients, but it would be the first try at getting one going on the ThemeForest marketplace.

The sheer level of competition in this category is huge, so it will definitely need to stand out from the crowed.

For this reason I decided to leverage the existing Eternity wedding site template and use the framework which is in place to migrate the site to the WordPress platform. The design is in place, so the next step is to begin to create the necessary page templates and wire it up according to the required standards.

Decision Made. WordPress Here I Come

I would like to emphasize on the fact that I think Ghost is a fantastic platform. I can definitely see it as a major player in the blogging industry.

I will keep my finger on the pulse to see how the support from hosting services evolve. Just recently Ghost themselves announce that they are providing this service. Like I said though, due to the fact that I have two already, it’s not something I will consider.

I hope you found this post of benefit to you and you learnt the reasons why you may or may not want to develop a Ghost theme. If you have the required hosting I see no reason why you shouldn’t.

As always, feel free to let me know what you think and if you have any questions be sure to add it in the comments section below.

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